Blade magazine with sight opening



Oct. 30, 1951 J MURQS BLADE MAGAZINE WITH SIGHT OPENING Filed Oct. 25, 1946 Patented Oct. 30, 1951 umrEoisrArEs PATENT OFFICE Joseph Muros,f(3ambridge, Mass, assignor "to Gillette Safety Razor Company;-Boston, Mass..

' a corp oration of Delaware 1 Application October 25, 1946, Serial Nd.:'zo5,5ss

- This invention. comprises-a new and improved magazine for razor blades used incombination with. safety razors, andis characterized by a novel provision for indicating to the user that the supply of fresh blades is exhausted :when that occurs. '-Attempts have been made heretofore tolprovide' blade magazines in which a stack of safety razor blades is completely enclosed and safeguarded from damageby moisture or by accidental contact with the'delicate structurei'of Qthe shaving edges of the blades. The provision of a sight-window in a magazine exposing a portion of theblade stack is in some respects inconsistentwith the complete protection of the blades, since a window or opening of that sortimpairs vtheintegrity of the wrapping.

An object of, the'present invention is' to provide a sealed magazine so constructed and organized that the user will be able readily to see when itcontains a blade ready for delivery and, if-no blade is available, then to have a conspicuous warning signal, by color or otherwise displayed, advising him of the fact that the magazine is empty. To this end an important feature .of the invention consists in a magazine enclosure containing a blade stackmaintained under pressure by spring means and held always in contact with a wall of the enclosure having a sight opening therein, the blade serving at all timesto cover and seal the opening and make the enclosure of themagazine complete, and in .which the spring means includes. a colored or other warning area which replaces at the sight opening the. last blade to be ejected. The user of the magazine of my invention therefore may see at a plance whether the magazine contains a blade ready for transfer to his razor or whether the magazine is empty.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated: from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a view in perspective on an enlarged scale of the complete-magazine;

Fig.2 is a corresponding view in longitudinal section on the line'2-2 of-Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a corresponding-view in cross-section on 'the'lines 3--3 of Fig.1; and j Fig. 4 is a view in perspective'of the'spring, blade tray and feed slide shown inexploded relation.

' The invention is herein shownas embodied in a magazine of the-general type; disclosed inmy co-pending application Ser. No.--'628,687, filed November 15, 1945, which has matured into Patent 2 Glainis. (01. 206- 16) 2 No. 2,4461715, dated August 10, 1948, that isto say, a magazine organized to remove a previously usedblade from a safety razor as a part of the operation of supplying it with a fresh sharp blade. My invention, however, i not limited to that or to any specific type of'magazine but is of general application andwith appropriate modification-of design may beadapted for handling blades'of differenttypes, all Within the scope of the invention.

Theillustrated magazine comprises an outer shell of rectangular contour formed of sheet metal or plastic material and comprising a bottom Ill, sidewalls II and 12,.and inwardly extending top flanges l3 which are separated from each other by a medial slot. These flange I3 are shouldered so thatv together'they form a channel in the top of the shell for the finger plate of the feed slide to be hereinafter described. -The bottom I!) is extended forwardly to form a flanged. receptacle [4 to receive one end of asafety razor. At'an intermediate point in the top of the shell is provided a circular sight opening I5. .To the innerface of the bottom of the shell is secured a leaf spring comprising a flat end portion I1 and forked forwardly and upwardly extending arms l8, the inner of which arm's has a flat raised land or area I9 preferably of red or other vivid color.

7 "The shell above described is shaped to-receive a tray which may be packed by the manufacturer with blades and which provides front and rear walls forthe magazine shell. The tray, as best shown in Fig. 4, comprises a bottom 2| having therein spaced longitudinal slots 22 which afford clearance for the arms l8 of the spring. "Between the slots is provided anupstanding bladelocating rib 23 extending upwardly a slight distance above the plane of the'inner faces of the top "flanges l3. At itsrear end the tray is provided witha rivet hole'24 arranged, when the parts'are'assembled, to register with the correspondingholes in the shell and in the end portion "of the spring. The tray has a rear wall'25 which completely fill the rear open end of the external shell of the-magazine, and a front wall -26which partially closes the forward end of the shell 'wall. leaving a clearance space or "exit-slot for the bladescontained therein and positioned upon -the rib 23; The front wall 26 is provided with forwardly extending ears 2'! which assist in locating and holding the end of the safety razor inoperative relation to the magazine as a whole when the razor is presented'thereto. The tray includes upstanding side wall 28 and 29- which telescope within the exterior shell as shown in Fig. 3. The magazine asherein shown is adapted to handling safety razor blades of a well-knowncom- The feed slide 3I, best shown in Fig. 4, has a;

corrugated finger plate 32 secured to its rear end and is formed with opposite inturned marginal flanges 33 on its upper surface which extend.

rearwardly for more than half ofthe length of the feed slide. A hole 34 is formed in the body of the feed slide in position to register with the hole l5 in the left-hand flange of the exterior shell. vided with downwardly shouldered longitudinal flanges 35 and forming oblique edges in each flange is a slot 36. The feed slide, as more fully explained in my prior patent above identified, is adapted to engage upon its end surface the up- 4 the fresh blade is stripped from the under side of the feed slide and left in shaving position in the safety razor. At the same time the used blade is held in position on the upper face of the feed slide, being slightly bowed because its margins are held by the flanges 33 while its central section is bowed upwardly bythe rib 38. Accordingly when the feed slide is moved to the right toward its initial position the butt end of the used blade is engaged by the stops 39 and the used blade is stripped from the upper face of the feed slide.

7 s This operation may be repeated until the blade f stack is completely exhausted.

The rear portion of the feed slideis pro-- permost blade of the blade stack, the rear corners is retracted. The feed slide is provided at its forward end with a pilot projection 31 of reduced width designed to pass beneath the used blade :when the safety razor is presented to the receptacle I4 of the magazine. The feed slide is also provided in its upper surface with a raised medial rib 38 over which the used blade istransversely flexed when it is engaged by the marginal flanges 33. The forward ends of the top flanges I3 are bent upwardly to form upstanding stops 39 which limit the forward movement of the feed slide by engaging the finger plate 32.

In using the magazine above described the manufacturer fills the tray with fresh blades, locating them upon the upstanding rib 23 .of the tray. The loaded tray is then inserted into the exterior shell through the open rear end of the latter and the spring, tray and shell united by a rivet 20. The forks I8 of the spring pass freely through the slots 22 in the bottom of the tray and press the blade stack yieldingly upwardly maintaining the uppermost blade therein in contact with the top flanges I3 of the shell. Consequently the uppermost blade 30 in the stack is at all times pressed against the sight opening formed by the registering holes I5 and,

When the feed slide occupies its extreme right- ,hand position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the slots 36 are brought into registration with the rear corners of the uppermost blade in the stack. Accordingly, when the feed slide is advanced toward the left the blade, which is at that time uppermost in the stack, is engaged in the slots 36 and ejected from the left-hand end of the magazine. If a safety razor has been presented to the magazine the blade will be carried to the blade seat of the razor while the pilot 3'! and the body of the blade pass under the previously used blade in the razor directing it into the flanges 33. In passing out of the magazine the rear or trailing end of the blade is flexed or bowed upwardly by the action thereon of the flanges l3 and the forward end of the rib 23. A frictional drag is'thus imparted to the advancing blade and the blade itself is stiffened by reason of its bowed contour. When the feed slide is retracted,

When there is no longer any blade in the magazine the colored area IQ of the spring is pressed against the sight opening formed by the registering holes I5 and 34 and a warning is conspicuously displayed to the user that. the magazine has been exhausted. ,Thus it will be seen that the hole I5 in the shell of the magazine is sealed at all times either by a blade yieldingly pressed into position beneath it or by the flat land I9 of the spring itself.

Having thus disclosed my invent-ion and described in detail an illustrative embodiment thereof, I claim as new and desire to secure by U. S. Letters Patent: 7

1. A blade magazine rectangular in contour, having a. sight opening at an intermediate point in its top and containing a stack of blades, a feed slide coextensive in area with the blades, movable upon the top of the magazine from an initial position at one end to blade-delivering position adjacent to the other end thereof and having an opening which registers with the sight opening of themagazine only when the feed slide is in its initial position, and a spring pressing the blade stack upwardly into sealing relation with the said registering openings, said spring being attached at one end to the bottom of the magazine and being of suflicient length to reach the top of the magazine, said spring having a flat portion for sealing the registering openings when the magazine is empty.

2. A blade, magazine of rectangular .contour having a sight opening in its top, a stack of elongated blades in the magazine, a feed slide substantially coextensive in area with the blades, being mounted to slide in the cover of the magazine and having an opening registering with the sight opening of the magazine when the feed slide is in its initial position, and a spring acting to lift the blade stack and having a flat portion located in position to close the registering openings from inside the magazine when the magazine is empty.

JOSEPH MUROS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Date 2,446,715 Muros Aug. 10, 1948 

